Rain Pours Hearts
by TwiliteTGRgrl
Summary: A rainy dismal night brings back painful memories and hidden emotions make themselves known...BAK AND BETTA THAN EVA! Thanks EVILkakler, Trumpet-Geek, and evilmoose for your advice and kind reviews! :3 FINished! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Another 3am special!! It sux but review anyways!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or nothing cool for that matter. Except for my imaginative mind...**

* * *

**Rain Pours Hearts**

Black despairing clouds settled over the slumbering town. Bucketfuls of splattering fat drops cascaded from the inky sky, flooding the streets and casting their ruckus to the inhabitants of the town. The thunder startling the once blissful dreaming resident into a sweaty bundle of startled gasps and pounding hearts, but those who slept soundly paid the noise no mind, not even waking to the peals that echoed off the towers or the blinding blue streaks of lightning. But those were a rare few who could dismiss such hullabaloo and sleep in complete comfort.

One such individual did not exist in the room inhabited by the Kurosaki twins and a certain raven-haired shinigami. Yuzu had crept unquestionably crawled into her sister's bed, the two trying their hardest to get some sleep. Rukia was staring at the ceiling, watching the bright lights dance around the room. As the storm finally subsided somewhat, she watched with amusement as the two finally had their eyes closing, sleep tugging, beckoning for them to return. Right as her own eyes began to close was when she heard it...a mournful noise that chilled her to the bone. Cracking an eye open, she observed that the twins had finally drifted and hadn't heard the noise. She slowly got out of bed to investigate, careful to not wake the twins, and wrapped a robe about her shoulders. With bare feet she slipped into the hallway and quietly made her way toward the living room.

A flash of lightning lit up the room for a moment sending eerie shadows scurrying. The noise was nearby. It was barely audible now but Rukia had acute hearing and she picked her way near the stairs. Suddenly a hand brushed her arm! She spun about in alarm only to find Karin and Yuzu blinking sleepily at her. Rukia clutched her hand to her chest in relief.

"What are you yawn doing up...Rukia-nee?" Yuzu asked curiously.

"Nothing Yuzu, Karin, you should go back to bed now." She didn't what to worry them and besides they hadn't slept at all well. "I just needed a drink of water." A bad lie she could see, since the look on Karin's face clearly showed her disbelief but she dragged a sleepy Yuzu away back to their room anyways. Satisfied, Rukia crept up the stairs toward the sound. It was defiantly louder now. Could it be?

She peeked through a crack in the door to his room, lightning once again illuminating the darkness. She saw a figure on the bed, moaning in heart-wrenching agony. Something tugged at the shinigami's heart as she heard him cry out at the phantoms of his nightmares. Soft yet agonizing cries filled her ears. She pulled the robe tighter around her as she slipped inside his room, flipping on his bedside lamp, unsure of what to do. He was obviously reliving the pain of his past experiences. As she neared his twitching form, stepping gingerly over pillows long since flung in his sleep she gasped. He was crying!

Steady tears flowed down his face twisted in agony and remorse. His lips emitted a sob so bitterly painful, combined with his sweating shaking state so unlike him Rukia felt tears spring to her own eyes. She couldn't take it! Gently she placed her hand on his arm, his body tensed, still shaking from raking yet soft sobs. "Ichigo," she whispered shaking him 

gingerly. "Wake up!" His eyes snapped open and he sat up quickly in alarm, eyes darting wildly, searching for something that was not there.

"Ichigo!' The pain and horror emitting from those amber eyes nearly killed the woman. The sight was unbearable. He looked confused for a moment. "R-rukia?" Then suddenly he felt his face and realized the tears that flowed there. He looked away quickly, embarrassed and ashamed for her having to see him like this.

His nightmares caught up with him and he rolled over facing the wall, pulling the covers over his shoulder, his back to her. The only sound in the room was the pattering of raindrops and the faint roll of distant thunder. "Ichigo...are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Again she placed her hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture, hurriedly pulling it away when she realized that his body was shaking again. She could barely make out the strangled sob he emitted. For once, the raven-haired girl was at a loss. She had never had been in a situation like this, and never had she realized how distant Ichigo really was.

Luckily her hand seemed to know what to do. It brushed the hair away from his face, revealing a face contorted with choked sobs. What was he dreaming about? Again and again her hand followed a course all its own. Stroking the teen's hair and murmuring incoherent phrases of comfort. Lightning danced across his features. He tensed again but did not shy away from her touch.

"Ichigo, you can tell me. Don't be ashamed of pain." He let out an escaped gasp, shuddering, tears flowing again. Rukia felt guilt for upsetting him again but she encouraged him to speak when he was ready. She sat at the edge of his bed, perching atop the pillow where he rested his head. Her other hand found his and squeezed it as she continued to stroke his hair a bit awkwardly. "T-the pain!" he cried out suddenly. "I-it hurts so much!!" Rukia waited patiently, understanding that talking about his emotions was something very difficult for him, and she understood that he'd rather not say anything. His eyes were squeezed shut.

"The pain of losing her! I-it...hurts." Rukia now understood perfectly what was causing him so much pain. "She was everything to this family and I-I couldn't protect her..."He muttered through clenched teeth."Every time it storms...it all...comes back."

Rukia felt a pang of sympathy for her friend. "Every night since it happened...for two whole years the nightmares...haunted me! And now...they have come back...because..." he paused before continuing. "When it rains I seem to lose...so much!" He looked startled now, as if he had just said something he wasn't supposed to have said aloud.

Rukia was confused, she peered into his face. "What do you mean?" Ichigo closed his amber eyes for a moment, before opening them, continuing with a steadier voice. "On the day that my mother died, part of me died too. I couldn't protect her, I was ashamed. My family was in pain because I couldn't protect the one thing that held us together..." The steadiness faltered. "Instead she protected me."

Rukia felt closer to understanding him now, the anguish he lives with everyday. "I relive those weeks hopelessly looking for mother along the river where she died...in the rain...finding her dead body over mine...in the rain...she protected me..." He was looking up into her eyes now."The day you were taken...how you...left me...to die for me, protecting me. I thought I had died...again." Rukia's eyes widened. "How can I live with the rain 

always pouring down on me, always taking something away? To protect me?" She felt his hand clench.

"Rukia...I never told you when I saved you...that you helped stop the rain for me. You gave me the power to protect. And even though I am forever doomed to relive the past...I can still live...because you're here, alive with me." She squeezed his hand and her eyes softened, letting a tear fall from her eye. "Rukia, thank you..." He looked away embarrassed, his faced tinged in the darkness. "You just did it again..." It was then that Rukia looked out the window and saw that the rain had indeed stopped.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Karin, Yuzu, and the 'Goat-chin' all stood just outside the door, all with tears in their eyes. They had trailed Rukia and heard every word. Yuzu was shocked at the pain her brother had so desperately hid deep inside himself to protect her and Karin. Karin was amused at the way Rukia and her brother responded to each other's touch of comfort. And Isshin...he saw it all. He was proud to say that someone could fill in the spot in his son's heart that he could never fill. That Rukia was a very special woman indeed. Needless to say that the last statement was soon proven true. The three eavesdroppers nearly fainted when they saw what happened next.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"I-ichigo I...had no idea of all that you'd been through and endured." She commanded her hand to let go of the blushing youth's. "Thank you for telling me..."

An awkward silence filled the room both a bit overwhelmed with all they had just been through and spilled. The girl started to climb off the bed but a hand snatched hers, making her stop. Ichigo sat up, eyes still slightly damp and watched as tears fill up in her violet ones.

He looked concerned. "Rukia, wait what is it?" The girl looked away. "Nothing you baka. You just... helped me realize something." Ichigo still had her delicate hand in his.

"What?" She suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck; Ichigo blushed furiously and was very much startled. "Rukia?!" She pulled away slightly so she could look into his eyes. "Ichigo...I...have to tell you...that I..." Her eyes were different somehow. How strange it was that on one rainy night secrets flowed like the raindrops from the sky...

**TO BE CONTINUED**

**me muy evilo ;) Review gomen...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey yall I'm back! For some reason I write best at ungodly hours! I'm such a freak…don't agree with that. Anyways thanks to the countless many people (more like less than a dozen and what a friggan wonderful dozen you are good job golden star) who actually liked my story. I thought it was too…I dunno…anyways I'm such a bum for not writin' much on my week off so here goes…**

**By the way the whole family knows about Soul Society.**

**Disclaimer: I no own k? I do own at being me…**

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Chapter 2

Rain No More

Her sorrow-filled eyes danced with the silent lightning illuminating the inky blackness outside. The rain had stopped, but the lightning still left its presence in the remaining gloom. The bedside lamp his only light by which to see the profile of her porcelain face scrunch up from an unseen pain. The glow flickered momentarily as the lightning flashed once again. Ichigo was confused by that strange look in her eyes, a whorl of many emotions. She had released her grip from around his neck by now, standing looking out the window looking mysterious. Guilt filled the youth. _Did I say something…wrong?_

The troubled girl repeated her last statement more quietly, her gaze never leaving the view before her. "Ichigo I have to…tell you something." The boy silently pushed off the covers and slipped off his bed standing beside his friend. Her voice carried a rare tone of loneliness and a slight edge of bitterness. "I'm sorry it's just that…I've wanted to speak of it for some time and…when you revealed your own burden to me I…sort of…"

"Lost control? I know." A new reflection appeared above Rukia's in the window, his face blurred from the precipitation still hanging on the outside. Rukia looked up at his face, the slight streaks on his face the only sign of what had happened moments ago. The evidence of a wound that had not yet healed. She admired the fact that he had finally trusted her with his weakness and his grief. He met her gaze. "I understand."

Warmth spread across her cheeks for a reason unknown to her as his amber orbs melted into her violet ones. There was such understanding there, such trust and loyalty, such undivided and unbridled concern for her that she felt lost in their depth. "Ichi…go." 

Here was someone that would listen to her and comfort her, in his own way of course, for there was awkwardness in such things since no one had taught him to do so with confidence, and he was someone who could relate to loss and gain and was the owner of a soft heart even it his outer self seemed rough and uncaring. He could relate to her, and her to him. The symmetry of them created a whole new ripple of understanding in the pond of life.

Flickering from the lamp distracted his gaze and he turned away from her to hide his reddening face. His guilt from earlier had faded fast when the understanding had sunk in. She had something that had been bothering her for a long while, and she…needed someone to confide in, just as he did. And since she had listened and understood, so would he. But those eyes sidetracked him and he hadn't been able to look away from them for some reason. Now, eyes finally averted, he waited patiently for her to speak.

"Ichigo I want to tell you about something that happened a long time before I met you." Her words startled the blonde, who immediately whipped his head around. Shadows hid her face so he could not read her expression, but he could clearly see her hands clenched. She slowly sat down on the cold floor wrapping her robe tighter. "Y-you might want to sit down, it's…quite a long and sad tale."

Baffled the shinigami obeyed and sat facing her. "It's about him isn't it?" He asked cautiously. "The one I always hear people saying I look like. I'm I…right?"

Rukia finally looked up, eyes blank and numb. "Yes, it is."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Out in the hallway where a hidden audience was soaking in every word, was a growing mound of Kleenexes. And lots of sniffling. Isshin just couldn't let the genuine flow of tears stop coming. He realized now with deep regret that he should have tried harder as a father to reach out to his son in his times of grief. The realization was a slap to the face. He saw with fresh eyes that his son needed someone if not every once in a while, to confide his true feelings to. Someone to understand him and guide him. And the true reason for his tears was, although they did start in regret, was in bitter gladness that his son had befriended this petite raven-haired beauty. She had done the bitter fathers work for him, she had been there for him as soon as she met him. And he needed that. And although he was still too blind to realize it, that son of his had come to value Rukia-chan at a price higher than life itself. Rukia had changed Ichigo's life, if not a dangerous one, for the better. And it seemed that she too needed Ichigo's companionship. He smiled. It was like a de ja vu of him and Matsuki…well not exactly.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The words for some reason stung him. _I admired him greatly._ Jealousy bit him as she told of the man that in so many ways, was an equivalent to himself. _Why am I jealous?! He was a friend of hers! And any friend of hers is regarded as a friend of mine!_ He shook his head clearing ridiculous feelings away as she continued, poise slowly gathering but her pained manner still unchanging.

"Kaien-dono had that same stubbornness as you." She gave a sad chuckle in remembrance and at the pouting look Ichigo gave her. "Always strutting about with an air of confidence. Always…trying to keep me from feeling sorry for myself. And always…" Her eyes clouded over now. "Always charging into battle for someone held sacred." Ichigo was defiantly puzzled now.

"You see, a horrible thing happened. There was a hollow who had the power to take over a person's body and mind. And it, took control of his wife, making her kill her own squad." Ichigo's eyes 

widened as he remembered something he had heard from somewhere about hollow experiments like that.

"Kaien-dono followed her, with me and my captain Ukitake-taichou at his heels for the vice-captains backup. She was already eaten by the hollow. Kaien-dono fought it bravely put it soon took control of him as well." Suddenly she squeezed her eyes closed and fisted her delicate hands, shaking with emotion. "You don't know how much it hurt to watch him suffer! I wanted to help him so badly but…my captain reminded me that this was a battle for his…pride. So I…I watched him suffer and become the hollows puppet."

Ichigo looked on in empathy as tears streamed from shut eyes, he pulled some covers off of his bed and quietly walked behind his gravened friend, draping them gently over her thin shoulders. It was his turn now to comfort. This memory was tearing her apart to speak about, he could tell, she was having difficulty finishing it. He crouched beside her letting a comforting hand steady her shaking frame.

She looked at him in gratitude and grabbed the sleeve of his night-shirt to help her continue. "He…he went after us next, in Kaien-dono's body. The way his eyes were filled with malice and his mouth into a leering grin…sickened me. Ukitake-taichou told me to run for I would be killed by the hollow if I didn't, and reluctantly I ran…until I had to turn back around, I just had to. I felt that maybe I could…save Kaien-dono. But it was a foolish thought. I returned to find my captain and him fighting. Suddenly Ukitake-taichou had an ill spell…at the worst possible moment. He couldn't defeat the hollow now. He said that the only way to kill the hollow would be to kill Kaien-dono. It was the only way. And I was the only one now who could do it." An arm wrapped around her comforting her, keeping the blanket close, even though it wasn't cold that was making her tremble. "Go on." Ichigo said softly.

"And so with my own hands…I-I killed Kaien-dono." That was when Rukia Kutchiki sobbed in front of someone for the first time in all her hundreds of years. Never had she broke down in front of anyone before, never had she been unashamed of someone seeing her. She buried her head into her comforters chest. "It's alright Rukia…I'm here."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

"Oh how terrible!" Yuzu gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth in horror. She was sobbing with her adopter sister. Karin too was still wiping tears away. The pain of both teens memories had overwhelmed the twins. "Oh I can't take it anymore!" Karin cried and opened the door. The two huddled on the floor didn't move, they already knew that they had an audience in the hallway. Two more pairs of arms joined in a group hug of sorts, all eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry I've kept so much distance from everyone." Karin whispered, sniffling. Someone handed her a tissue. She looked up into her brother's eyes to see tears brimming them.

"It's alright, I did the same thing. Now everything's better." He smiled, patting her on the head.

"Oh Rukia-nee! I'm so sorry!" Yuzu squeezed the older girl, while Ichigo stroked her raven hair, whispering softly, "Please don't cry anymore Rukia, I hate to see you so sad."

A for once silent Kon appeared out of nowhere to join the hug, wiping tears away that had actually began when Ichigo had confessed his pain. "Yeah."

"Yeah," A huge pair of arms draped around all of the assembled Kurosaki's. " I'm sorry I've been such a terrible father and I'm sorry that you had to be in such pain…both of you…all of you." Five pairs of eyes looked up at him. Kurosaki's full of forgiveness, Kon's full of amazement, Rukia's full of gentleness.

"I'm sorry," piped Rukia, who was wiping her eyes. "That I made everyone cry."

Ichigo gave a genuine laugh, wiping tears from his own eyes. "You did not. And idiot I just got something in my eye is all."

"Right." The others all laughed too. The mushy moment was becoming too awkward for the teen. Everyone disentangled themselves and stood, letting Rukia and Ichigo up.

"Feeling better now Rukia?" Ichigo asked helping her to her feet.

"Much." She answered happily.

Yuzu rushed to the window. "Look everyone the storm has finally passed! And oh, look at the sunrise!" Ichigo looked at the clock on his bedside table in curiosity. "6:00. Wow." The six newly revived individuals, no scratch that, the _one _newly revived family stared at the beautiful sunrise in splendor and awe. The mix of reds and blues sent a jolt of emotion through Ichigo. The way the deep blue tenderly touched the outstretched rays of the sun, forming deepening shades of red and pink reminded him of the way someone had reached out to him and reassured him when he had needed it, setting off this pleasant chain of events.

Rukia had been the sun, shining through the storm, stopping the rain, and piercing the darkness. Filling the sky with color. The color that filled his heart…the color that represented an emotion he didn't realize he could feel for anyone other than the people standing around him, watching the sky with him. This feeling that made him continue to grasp her hand even though he had already helped her up.

He looked into her eyes once again, the emotion mirrored in her violet ones. She smiled and squeezed his hand, before peering outside again. He sighed. Everyone else watched out of the corners of their eyes in amusement, knowing of the exchange taking place. Ichigo didn't wanna de anywhere else right now. With these loving souls around him and this short, obnoxiously wonderful woman by his side the stormclouds were permanently pushed away and he knew it would rain no more.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Somewhere up in the heavens above, a beautiful woman…a mother…a wife…a lover…smiled down on the happy faces of her family…and those who new to it who rightfully had a place in it.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

FIN

**Yeah well that has gotta be the mussiest fanfic eva. And the teariest one too… I hoped at least one person understood it. If you did or if you absolutely didn't get it…PWEASE review and let me know. I wrote till five am okay? Was all this worth it? Probabli not…it was purdi sappi I know. But still. Review anyways.**

**PS I forgot about poor Kon so I had to add him in. :3**


End file.
